Knight Moves (1993)

An excellent mystery thriller

This review contains some spoilers.

While this is a good film, it is not for the kiddies. There are disturbing images, adult situations, and some bloody scenes.

The film was well done from the opening shots of the boy stabbing another boy to the someday serial killer watching while his mother dies. The director writer team did an excellent job of drawing the audience into the movie and dropping enough hints that you could figure out "who-done-it," but you probably won't. In my circle of the fifteen folks who have watched the film with us only one of them figured out who the killer was in the first 2/3 of the movie.

Your opinion of who the killer might be shifts throughout the movie. None of the characters are paragons of virtue in the film. As an audience member, there is enough circumstantial evidence and potential motives for you to implicate most of the principals in the film.

The music and sound effects are well integrated into the film and help to build and dispel suspense. Actually some of the sounds are critical for solving the mystery.

The acting by the ensemble cast was exceptional. Even the bit roles were done by credible character actors. The characters were well written and believable, and the cast did a good job of bringing them to life.

As an interesting trivia point, Christopher Lambert was married to Diane Lane, his romantic interest, when the movie was being filmed. February 28, 2008

Keeps You Guessing Until the Very End

I obtained this movie many years ago but got around to watching it only recently. Being a chess player myself, I figured it would be interesting. I have to say however, it's more a murder mystery than about chess. If you're hoping for some insights into the game itself, there is little. The movie is about a chess grandmaster (Lambert) who is being taunted by a serial killer that goes after young women and ritually murders them. The killer wants to "play a game" with Lambert and has him (and the police) running around the island they are on based on ambiguous clues (in the form of words and poems) he leaves behind.

The possible suspects are numerous and just when you think you have it figured out, you find out you were wrong. They don't really make murder mysteries like this anymore. I suppose the style is simply out of date. There are a couple of steamy sex scenes that didn't seem necessary to the film (but welcomed nonetheless) so I would caution watching this in the presence of children or the elderly. There is nothing really "inspiring" about the movie but overall good entertainment. September 14, 2007

A reflection of life

I'm giving this movie a high rating, not because it's a great movie, but because it has sentimental value to me. My father rented this soon after it came out back in '93, and I was about 9 or 10 years old at that time. It's sentimental to me because this is the movie that inspired me to learn chess, and I'm more in love with the game today than ever before.

I haven't seen this movie since, until I recently purchased it from Amazon Marketplace.

A few notes:

1. Unless the product I purchased is bootleg, and I've been assured it's not, the quality is not exactly what you expect from a DVD that's supposedly digitally re-mastered. The jacket's back cover looks like it was produced by a Xerox machine; the quality of the picture is very grainy at times, even for a movie made 15 years ago; NO SUBTITLES (very disappointing); oh, and the ending is horrible - way too sudden.

2. Just in case anyone's interested, in the movie, Chris Lambert's character mentioned a chess master by the name of Anton Berger who supposedly wrote one of the most famous books on chess, titled "Principles & Tactics." In the first chapter, Berger lists the 3 cardinal rules of playing chess: 1. carefully; 2. carefully; 3. carefully. I Yahooed, Googled and Wikipediaed: there's no such master and no such book. May 12, 2007

"Allan Rocky Lane B-Western Series ... Oklahoma Badlands (1948) ... Republic Pictures"

Republic Pictures present "OKLAHOMA BADLANDS" (1948) (59 mins/B&W) (Dolby digitally remastered) --- relive those thrilling days when Allan Rocky Lane took us down the dusty trails with hard riding and straight shooting hitting the bull's eye with excitement every time ... the Allan Rocky Lane series of B-Westerns were a staple of Saturday matinees in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s ... Lane's best known and most popular series, a total of thirty eight Allan 'Rocky' Lane features, all but six of which co-starred Eddy Waller as old timer 'Nugget Clark' ... The "Rocky Lane Series" would open with Rocky riding his horse Black Jack as their names appear on the screen, then moving on to the rest of the cast, director, screenwriter and cinematographer and other credits ... don't miss any of the Allan Rocky Lane features loaded with action that will leave you wanting more of his B-Western adventures.

Under Yakima Canutt (Director), Gordon Kay (Producer), Bob Williams (Screenwriter), John MacBurnie (Cinematographer), Mort Glickman (Musical Direction/Supervision), Arthur Roberts (Editor) ------ the cast includes Allan Lane (Rocky Lane), Black Jack (Black Jack (Rocky Lane's stallion), Eddy Waller (Nugget Clark), Mildred Coles (Leslie Rawlins), Roy Barcroft (Henchman Sanders), Gene Roth (Oliver Budge (as Gene Stutenroth), Earle Hodgins (Jonathan Walpole, posing as George Black), Dale Van Sickel (Henchman Sharkey), Jay Kirby (Ken Rawlins), Claire Whitney (Agatha Scragg), Terry Frost (Sheriff), Hank Patterson (Postmaster Fred), House Peters Jr. (Stage Passenger), Jack Kirk (Stagecoach Driver) ------ take note "Oklahoma Badlands" was the 3rd feature in The 'Rocky Lane' Series at Republic, with quality in screenplay and direction .... the plot line has Rocky Lane impersonating the owner of the Rawlins Ranch, as the real owner is a woman named Leslie (Mildred Coles) ... knowing that the baddies Roy Barcroft and associates are looking for a man, Rocky takes on the task ... Eddy Waller (Nugget Clark) is the foreman and hires the real Leslie Rawlins as a cook and cleaning woman, giving her what for during the entire 59 minutes of this feature ... some hilarious scenes when Nugget provides lessons in shooting and riding to Rocky who pretends to be a dude ... director Yakima Canutt keeps Bob Williams screenplay moving in a triumphant gallop ... there's plenty of action and fancy stunt work to entertain the fans with a protracted fisticuffs near the end between Rocky and the boss outlaw ... Rocky astride his stallion, Black Jack, chasing the outlaws was always a high point of the Allan Rocky Lane features ---- they just don't make 'em like this anymore and Republic Pictures was one of the leaders of exciting B-Westerns and Serials.

Special Footnote, actor Allan Lane looked to better roles, he signed with Republic in 1940 ... after struggling a bit in his initial films, hit pay dirt after teaming with Linda Stirling in the popular serial "The Tiger Woman" (1944) ... his own serials with "Daredevils of the Red Circle" (1939) and "King of the Royal Mounted" (1940), Mountie Dave King proved popular and, around this time, he started gaining added attention as a photogenic and very personable cowboy star, with his trusty steed "Blackjack," ... Lane managed to churn out a bucketful of oaters every year beginning with "Silver City Kid" (1944)), for nearly a decade, trading blows with the bad guy Roy Barcroft and seeing justice prevail ... best remembered these days for his dashing good looks and saddle appeal on film ... it's no small wonder that Allan Rocky Lane's name was at the top of the list, working with the top directors of the day Howard P. Bretherton, Spencer Gordon Bennett, Joseph Kane, Wallace A. Grissell, Leslie Selander and R.G. Springsteen all under Republic Pictures banner.

BIOS:
1. Allan Lane (aka: Harry Leonard Albershart)
Date of birth: 22 September 1909 - Mishawaka, Indiana
Date of death: 27 October 1973 - Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

Great job releasing "Oklahoma Badlands (1948) - Allan Rocky Lane, the digital transfere with a clean, clear and crisp print...looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '20s, '30s & '40s and B-Westerns ... order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on VHS, stay tuned once again for top notch action mixed with deadly adventure --- if you enjoyed this title, why not check out VCI Entertainment where they are experts in releasing B-Westerns and Serials ---Western Classics, all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 59 min on VHS ~ Republic Video ~ (1/01/1999) December 14, 2006

"Erica"

A very good movie, Knight Moves, sheds light on a series of horrendous murders committed on an island off the state of Washington during a major chess tournament.
There are slight hints of Seven, The Bone Collector, Resurrection, and The Silence of the Lambs so the movie falls into the action/adventure/mystery/thriller/horror type of category.
Christopher Lambert, Diane Lane, and the rest of the cast (with the exception of Daniel Baldwin) carry out their performances very well!
The only major setbacks are in relation to:
1) Daniel Baldwin's character, Detective Andy Wagner, who was overly disruptive, thus useless and annoying, and
2) Daniel Baldwin's acting, which in one word was... sad.
School plays (and pre-school for that matter) have better acting! Somebody get this guy some acting lessons!

Overall, though not a masterpiece it is definitely a movie worth watching, as it will provide for an evening's entertainment.
January 29, 2006

More reviews at Amazon.com ...